One of the reasons that cases and hospitalizations are on the rise is that people are not heeding the health officials’ warnings and advice and are using poor judgment and making wrong decisions.
At the federal level the present administration has failed to mobilize the nation to combat the spread of the virus. Rather it has contributed to the politicization of the pandemic. If the United States were engaged in a war with a foreign power, one could argue that the administration has sided with the enemy. The fact is that we are engaged in a war—a war of a different kind, a war with a deadly infectious disease.
At the state level public officials are infighting over what measures, if any, should be taken to prevent the virus’ spread. At the local level public officials are refusing to enforce these measures and members of the public are refusing to comply with them. The virus has benefitted from these divisions and has made serious inroads into the US population.
While conservatives have hailed the three Trump appointees to the US Supreme Court as a victory for the pro-life cause, these justices with Wednesday’s late-night decision have shown that they, like Trump himself, are not genuinely pro-life. Being pro-life extends beyond protecting the unborn. It places a high value on all human life. It includes protecting infants, children, and adults after they are born. With Wednesday's late-night decision the US Supreme Court failed to do that.
The decision relied upon defective reason and was really an example of Trump’s appointees’ flexing their judicial muscles and not an example of the Supreme Court protecting a fundamental freedom. Among our fundamental freedoms is the right to life. The majority on the Supreme Court in their decision did not uphold that right.
Churches and other religious organizations that are already doing little to protect their congregations and their communities from the COVID-19 coronavirus will see the Supreme Court’s ruling as license to do nothing at all. State and local governments that are struggling to implement reasonable measures to combat the spread of the virus. Wednesday's late-night ruling made their job even more difficult and undercuts any national effort to contain the pandemic.
People cannot be counted upon to do what is right if they are left to their own devices. Some will; others will not. Christians of all people should know that. Only God’s grace working in their hearts and lives enables people to do what is right, what is good, what is noble.
While some churches and religious organizations have cooperated with state and local health authorities; others have not. They have ignored Jesus’ teaching about being merciful as God is merciful and loving and serving others. They have turned an uncaring face to their communities and have insisted on doing what they pleased regardless of the consequences to others. They have exhibited a self-centeredness that is not consistent with Jesus’ teaching. Just as unfriendly churches see themselves as friendly, they may see themselves as loving and caring but their perceptions of themselves do not match with how they act toward the community. They are not only damaging their own witness but also the witness of churches that do embody Jesus’ teaching.
Wednesday's late-night ruling did not do Christianity a favor in the United States. It made Christians’ more susceptible to criticism and hostility. Christians may come to regret this ruling.
I posted a link to an article from the United Kingdom, which reflects the confusion over the role that singing plays in the transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Both the WHO, the CDC, and a number of governments have recognized that the virus is transmitted by airborne particles as well as droplets. The CDC has warned that more than 50% of infections are caused by people who are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic. Recent findings point to people being the most infectious within the first five days after they themselves contract the disease. Pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic people do not have a temperature and temperature checks will not detect them. They do not spread the virus by coughing or sneezing. They spread it primarily by normal respiration—breathing. They exhale virus particles every time they breath out. People contract the virus from them principally by breathing in the particles that they exhale. The longer people are in the same room with pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic people, the more likely they are to inhale the particle and become infected with the virus. The more particles they inhale, the worse the case of the virus they are likely to develop.
Activities like singing, chanting, loud talking, clapping, dancing, and various forms of exercise such as running and jogging increase our rate of respiration, not only how fast we breath but also how deeply we breath. When our rate of respiration increases, we breath in more air. We also breath in more virus particles if they are floating in the air. They also travel further into our lungs. If we are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, we breath out more virus particles. These activities are not as high risk when they are performed outside, in the open air, at more than a six-foot distance from other people. A nine to ten-foot distance may be safer.
In an enclosed space or room with poor ventilation the same activities are high risk. COVID-19 coronavirus particles can linger in the air for an hour or more. The more people infected with the virus occupying the enclosed space or room, the greater will be the concentration of these particles in the air. One of the earliest recommendations of the CDC was that worship services should be limited in size and held outdoors or in a large airy room with the doors and windows open. Opening the doors and windows permits the flow of air into the room, which can dilute and dispel any concentration of airborne virus particles in the room. Most air conditioning systems only recirculate the air in the room. They may move the airborne particles around the room but they will not dilute or disperse any concentration of particles in the air of the room.
For these reasons places of worship cannot be categorized with bicycle shops and liquor stores. They require more layers of intervention. People do not stay in a bicycle shop or liquor store for any length of time. The individual most at risk of infection is not the customer but the employee who operates the cash register and has the most contact with the customers. For customers, the risk of infection is fairly low.
On the other hand, people may stay in a place of worship for an hour or more. They may occupy the same room for an hour or more. They may engage in activities like singing, shouting, clapping, and dancing in place, which increase their respiration rate. Their risk of infection is far higher than it would be in a bicycle shop or liquor store. If they are infected with the virus, they will spread the virus to others. Those who become infected will in turn infect others. If the church or other religious organization does not require the wearing of face masks and the practice of other safety measures, the risk of infection is higher. So is that risk if the room is poorly ventilated.
The Supreme Court’s ruling gave churches and other religious organizations that are careless about protecting their congregations and communities, permission to be more careless. The ruling gave those religious organizations doing a slipshod job of protecting people to do an even worse job. This the decision jeopardizes people’s health, safety, and very lives, it cannot by even a stretch of the imagination be regarded as pro-life. As a consequence of this decision we can expect to see more fatalities and more people suffering the long-term effects of infection. We can also expect churches that are acting responsibly to get the blame along with those that are not. Will the justices involved in this decision take responsibility for its consequences and step down from the bench? I doubt it.
No comments:
Post a Comment